Count of Floridablanca

José Moñino y Redondo, 1st Count of Floridablanca (Murcia, October 21, 1728 - Seville, December 30, 1808), was a Spanish politician who served as Secretary of State between 1777 and 1792 and presided over the Central Supreme Board, created in 1808. In 1773, King Carlos III granted him the title of Floridablanca County in recognition of his services.

Biography

Early Years

He began his studies at the Major Seminary of San Fulgencio in Murcia and later in Orihuela, where he graduated in Law from the University of that city. Later he obtained a doctorate in law at the University of Salamanca, a profession that he practiced with his father for some time. His contacts as a lawyer with influential figures, such as the Duke of Alba or Diego de Rojas y Contreras, facilitated his entry into the Council of Castilla as a criminal prosecutor in 1766. There he established a close relationship with Campomanes, both consecrating themselves in the defense of the prerogatives of the Crown against other powers and in particular against the Church (regalism).

In 1767, he acted decisively against the instigators of the Esquilache mutiny in Cuenca and collaborated with Aranda and Campomanes in the expulsion of the Jesuits from the territories of the Spanish crown that same year. In 1772 he was appointed ambassador plenipotentiary to the Holy See, where he influenced Clement XIV to obtain the final dissolution of the Society of Jesus, a goal he achieved in 1773. As a reward for these services, Carlos III named him Count of Floridablanca that same year.

Ministerial stage

Francisco Moñino, the younger brother of the Count of Floridablanca, who became Ambassador to the Republic of Venice and Lisbon and President of the Council of Indias. Portrait attributed to Folch de Cardona.

On February 19, 1777, he took office as Secretary of the Office of State, a position he would hold until February 27, 1792, temporarily occupying the Secretary of State and the Office of Grace and Justice between 1782 and 1790.

The Count of Floridablanca created the General Directorate of Roads in 1785, creating the General Inspectorate of Roads and Canals in 1799.

Floridablanca oriented the foreign policy of Carlos III towards a strengthening of the Spanish position against the United Kingdom, which is why he intervened in the War of Independence of the United States together with France and the rebellious colonies against England (1779 -1783), thanks to which he managed to recover Menorca (1782) and Florida (1783). However, he was not able to take Gibraltar after the Great Siege. He also fostered friendship with the Italian princes of the House of Bourbon and with Portugal (with which he signed a friendship treaty in 1777, the Treaty of San Ildefonso, through which he obtained the African islands of Annobón and Fernando Poo)..

Floridablanca painted by Goya (Museum of the Prado).

Soon he found himself confronted by the Aragonese party headed by the Count of Aranda, as Floridablanca intended to rebalance the institutions of the monarchy by giving more weight to the executive style of government of the Secretaries of State and Office, while Aranda defended the traditional style represented by the Councils. Along these lines, he created in 1787 the Supreme State Board (chaired by himself), which responded to the idea of coordinating the different secretariats in a kind of Council of Ministers, forcing all the secretaries to meet once a week.

Faced with this situation, Floridablanca wanted to leave his post, to no avail, since the royal will stipulated that the son and successor of King Carlos III should maintain his trust in him. In 1789 the people of Madrid, in multiple pamphlets, accused Floridablanca of robbery and disloyalty to the Crown. He wanted to resign, a decision not accepted by Carlos IV, who created several secretariats (Grace and Justice, Royal House and Heritage) to alleviate the work of Floridablanca.

Once reformist, the events of the French Revolution radically changed his political point of view, becoming the standard-bearer of a strong reaction, which led to the imprisonment of Francisco Cabarrús and the fall from grace of Jovellanos and Campomanes. On June 18, 1790, he suffered an attack, from which he escaped unharmed. Two years later Carlos IV dismissed him and he was imprisoned in his house in Hellín. Aranda's rise to power led him to jail in the citadel of Pamplona, under accusations of corruption and abuse of authority. After the fall of Aranda, replaced by Manuel Godoy, he was released (1794). However, Floridablanca did not intervene in political affairs again and retired to his hometown, Murcia.

Under his mandate, the Imperial Canal of Aragon was built, on which the drinking water supply of numerous municipalities still depends today, including Zaragoza, and the irrigation of 26,500 ha of land between Aragon and Navarra.

Opposition to the Napoleonic invasion

After the uprising in Madrid against the French (May 2, 1808), José Moñino organized the Supreme Board of Murcia. He supported the candidacy of the Infanta Carlota Joaquina de Borbón for the regency, on behalf of King Ferdinand VII. Shortly after he was appointed president of the Supreme Central Board, created in Madrid and Aranjuez after the victory of Bailén, which had allowed the Spaniards recover the capital and gather there delegates from the different juntas that emerged in the territory. On December 16, the junta had to retire to Seville and Moñino died there a few days later, on the 28th of the month.